Sunday 22 June 2008

Worst seen over for U.S. Midwest floods

EAST ST. LOUIS, Illinois: The worst Midwest flooding in 15 years eased on Saturday after the swollen Mississippi River crested in St. Louis, but the toll was still rising as billions of dollars in damage to crops, communities and infrastructure were assessed.
Emergency workers at river levees and floodwalls feared more rain could swell river levels again and complicate recovery efforts. But the skies remained mostly clear and thousands of relief workers could finally exhale.
"It really is looking positive. The weather has cooperated and that's made a difference," said Maggie Carson, a spokeswoman for Illinois Emergency Management in Alton, Illinois, a few miles north of St. Louis.
Thunderstorms seen for the northern Midwest in the next few days were expected to be scattered and pose no new threat.
The flooding and storms blamed for 24 deaths since late May have caused billions of dollars in damage to the heart of the U.S. grain belt, pushing corn and other food commodity prices to record highs and feeding fears of higher world food prices.

http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/06/21/america/OUKWD-UK-USA-FLOODING.php








www.aplaceintheauvergne.blogspot.com
www.ianwalthew.com

1 comment:

Jeannelle said...

Hi,

I blog from a dairy farm in Iowa, USA. I post about the farm and other subjects. You have a good idea, here.

The corn around here is probably the shortest I've ever seen it for this time in June, but its starting to take off now that the rains have stopped and the sun is shining.

Tomorrow I have a post showing corn rows being cultivated, a rare thing in modern US agriculture.